The Imbalance Between Male And Female Population
The research written by Susan Greenhalgh discussed the imbalance between male and female population. It showed the patriarchal society in China wherein married couples prefer to have a son to protract their bloodline rather than wanting a daughter. Son preference has been so common in China to an extent where the number of men is excessive and that they have a hard time looking for a wife because of the lack of women ending up growing old unmarried without anyone taking care of him. Though not all men experience this, the rural and marginalized ones, referred as baresticks, are victims because women tend to migrate to cities and marry men who are from a higher class. China’s adherence to the Marxian ideology also is undeniable.
The gender inequality, even from birth, can be observed as to how parents react after bearing a child. Seen as a threat and treated as not their own — this is how the China’s society perceives men who are unable to have a wife and a child. Baresticks can never be seen as a real man and a true adult. They are described as useless and that they contribute no good to the society. Referred and described as such, they will remain blameless victims. While obeying the imposed one child policy seems to be middling for it is claimed to be a solution to China's growing population, their patriarchy gave birth to prenatal sex selection that caused a dilemma of low fertility. People tend to have a difficulty in differentiating good and bad when their principles may be invalidated and baresticks are no exception. Older rural men do anything they can just to obtain a bride — legal and illegal. Some men from the border invest money at such an age just to have enough money to travel to different parts of the country looking for a wife and, though illegal, to buy one. Women transportation and purchasing has been considered for the sole purpose of fertility.
Polyandry was also taken advantage of when the scarcity of women came to rise. Setting aside the risk to having HIV/AIDS, men cannot be restrained from having copulation with women. A percent of wives are proven to be leaving their so called husbands after getting what they want. These temporary solutions to scarcity of women led to disastrous relationships. Some men settle for child adoption for the purpose of care and companionship as they grow old. Sex-starved bachelors tend to have high testosterone levels that mark some of the worst violence done in the history of China. But even after all of the methods done just to secure a bride, the gender gap is still definite. The government of China doesn’t seem to address the growing demographic problem and treated it as a taboo; a politically sensitive and undiscussable topic. But at around 2000, finally, the gender imbalance has been recognized as a problem and in need of a solution.
The Hu and Wen administration has initiated the silent battle of gender inequality and infanticide by introducing laws that halt women inferiority and promote gender equity enhancing the well-being of women and young girls. Activities were made in order to combat the gender discrimination. Old-age pensions are included on the improved social security system and two-child policy was supported to resist and minimize the awry sex ratio in their country. This research has includes discussions that focus on the concerning imbalance of sex ratio. She established points in her research and supported them with facts. For me, it was well done because she transparently expressed her thoughts without being biased. It was good that she defined first the term patriarchy and why she used the said term in her arguments. Philippines being a country tied to culture, traditions and beliefs, is somewhat patriarchal which concerns me after reading this research about sex ratio. Patriarchy cannot be felt and easily distinguished for we do not experience the prohibition of numerous child births.
The issue of distorted sex ratio is related to gender discrimination — an issue we, Filipinos, disregard. Men are identified as dominant and with great power and women are simply subservient. Although we cannot fully learn from China’s mistake of imposing a policy that triggered patriarchy, we can, at least, observe what and where they went wrong and try our very best to foresee and avoid undesirable outcomes. And as long as Filipinos don’t see the relevance of women, soon enough we’ll be walking on the same path China walked on. Women are important but our existence is not just to validate men’s masculinity neither to gauge how manly they are. Men prolong the bloodline of our ancestors but women carry an offspring of a generation.
